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Post by Jen on Aug 12, 2006 16:16:49 GMT
I am re- reading "The Time Travelers Wife" after reading a slew of bad, so so and so bad I gave up after the third chapter books. So I'm calling on the Lowculture community to recommend me some amazing books please! I'm a very open reader really, but draw the line at anything with extreme violence as I'm a total girl.
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Post by xenomaniac on Aug 12, 2006 17:11:52 GMT
I don't know what you like or what you've read but you won't go wrong with Norweigan Wood by Haruki Murakami. An amazingly sad love story, charts the journey of 5 friends growing up during the student revolt in Japan. No where near as difficult as Murakami's other big hitters. My copy has been passed around literaly everyone I know. If you don't love it you're a mong.
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Post by somethingbiblical on Aug 12, 2006 22:59:20 GMT
Many people think I'm a freak for liking this, but Wuthering Heights was like my favourite read ever. And plus, once you've read it, you can go all Dom in Hollyoaks and be all smarmy "Ah yes, chapter 29, when this and this happens".. Normally I read fluff but this is the one "smelly cover" type book I actually liked.
And it's good! Trust me. I'm a doctor.
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Post by xenomaniac on Aug 12, 2006 23:42:19 GMT
Many people think I'm a freak for liking this, but Wuthering Heights was like my favourite read ever. I'm a doctor.Who on earth would think you are a freak for liking that? Harry Potter fans no doubt. Sigh.
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Post by jode* on Aug 13, 2006 13:15:16 GMT
I've said this before but my favourite book ever is The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.
It's basically about the building of a cathedral in the 12th century (boring?) but you follow and get really into all the people's lives involved over 10s of years. It's basically a goodies versus baddies battle to get the cathedral finished. There are corrupt bishops and a cool monk dude and a sweet builder family and love and hate and revenge and all aspects of medieval life. Sometimes it's really sweet, sometimes it's quite gruesome, but overall amazing. Basically you laugh out loud loads and cry loads!
Oh god that still sounds shit. Read some better reviews online! I would recommend to EVERYONE.
I am currently reading Hide & Seek by Clare Sambrook. It's kinda in the same vein as Curious Incident... so all great so far.
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Post by Jen on Aug 13, 2006 20:34:47 GMT
Who on earth would think you are a freak for liking that? Harry Potter fans no doubt. Sigh. Hey, you can like both! I think "Harry Potter fans" would be better replaced with "Heat" fans. I know people who wrinkle their noses at me for reading the Harry Potter books. "But there are films out!". Anyway, Bristolian morons aside, thank you for the reccomendations. Norweigan Wood and The Pillars Of The Earth have both been selected on Amazon, (I have discovered I have a copy of Wuthering Heights somethingbiblical, it's going on the list) I shall let you know how I get on. Oooh it's like a Lowculture Book Club up in here!
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Post by [james] on Aug 14, 2006 8:35:22 GMT
If you want something you can read in a couple of hours but is still emotional resounding, try Dan Rhodes. His short story collection Don't Tell Me The Truth About Love manages to be funny, deeply saddening and deliciously sadistic at the same time.
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Post by Michael on Aug 14, 2006 9:36:57 GMT
A Lowculture read if ever there was one is The Arrival of Fergal Flynn by Irish Eurovision entrant Brian Kennedy. It's the story of the sensitive teen bummer growing up in 80s Belfast. Fantastic, in the bad way. Also, it's pretty autobiographical.
This morning I've started reading the sequel, Roman Song, where Fergal goes to Rome and hopefully gets some Italian cock.
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ruthie
Su Pollard
I'm not Miss March, Miss May, or Miss anything else! I'm Miss Madolyn Hayes and I own this dump!
Posts: 276
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Post by ruthie on Aug 14, 2006 9:42:09 GMT
Nancy Mitford's Love In A Cold Climate and The Pursuit Of Love are brilliant - very funny, but also quite emotional. And very Lowculture.
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jem
Su Pollard
Posts: 473
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Post by jem on Aug 14, 2006 12:13:31 GMT
I've taken to torturing myself with books. In the past year I've read about 4 or 5 Jonathon Coe ones becasue I can't decide if I like hime or not. They all seem quite good and then he beggers it up with the ending.
I recommend you don't go down this route.
On a better note i'm always fond on a Christopher brookmyre, murder, back comedy and a good old game of spot the Manics reference.
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Post by xenomaniac on Aug 14, 2006 16:58:56 GMT
If you want something you can read in a couple of hours but is still emotional resounding, try Dan Rhodes. His short story collection Don't Tell Me The Truth About Love manages to be funny, deeply saddening and deliciously sadistic at the same time. I'll second that choice.
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Post by [james] on Aug 14, 2006 17:48:47 GMT
I think I love you. I've never met anyone whose heard of him, much less likes him.
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Post by xenomaniac on Aug 14, 2006 18:06:51 GMT
I've only read Anthropology and a Hundred Other Stories, but have been meaning to get round to some of his other stuff. I've been a bit lazy lately.
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Post by Nicholas on Aug 14, 2006 19:59:45 GMT
Nancy Mitford's Love In A Cold Climate and The Pursuit Of Love are brilliant - very funny, but also quite emotional. And very Lowculture. This is exactly what I was going to recommend when I had finished reading the posts. There are four of them and at least three are absolute "blissykins", and the fourth still quite good. My favourite bit is where someone is talking to Lady Montdore about having a lie down in the afternoon. With scorn, she replies "Once you've started with that, you're better off dead". I would love to think like that but, in reality, spend most afternoons asleep in my office. The marvellous thing about these books is once you've finished them, you can read various biogs of Nancy, and it's almost impossible to tell the difference! Then you can move onto Jessica Mitford. BBC 4 serialised Pursuit of Love not long ago (and it's recently been repeated) and it too was bliss. The books, however, are better: on telly the characters were either too posh or not posh enough. In the books, you get caught up in the characters, even the absolute monsters. It really is blissful!
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Post by somethingbiblical on Aug 14, 2006 22:02:28 GMT
On a better note i'm always fond on a Christopher brookmyre, murder, back comedy and a good old game of spot the Manics reference. I can't get through any of Christopher Brookmyre's stuff, other than Quite Ugly One Morning which I've read about ten times. Not because it's the shortest (ha ha ha I lie) but I just got into it immediately whereas I've started and stopped pretty much all his other ones.
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Post by xenomaniac on Aug 14, 2006 23:50:55 GMT
This thread makes me happy, but poor. I've been on amazon, if I don't like any of these I will smite you for eternity.
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Post by Vinegar Tits on Aug 15, 2006 0:15:03 GMT
A Lowculture read if ever there was one is The Arrival of Fergal Flynn by Irish Eurovision entrant Brian Kennedy. It's the story of the sensitive teen bummer growing up in 80s Belfast. Fantastic, in the bad way. Also, it's pretty autobiographical. This morning I've started reading the sequel, Roman Song, where Fergal goes to Rome and hopefully gets some Italian cock. Both of these books are fab. I read them over Christmas when I was in bed with alcohol poisoning. Even my mum enjoyed them, and we've not agreed on a book since the last Adrian Mole.
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Post by Michael on Aug 15, 2006 9:25:06 GMT
I wouldn't let my Mum read them. There's too much gayness. I couldn't quite look my sister-in-law in the eye when she told me how much she'd loved them. It was like she'd learnt some of the secrets of the gays.
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Essexgirl
Su Pollard
A dancer and a fighter
Posts: 388
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Post by Essexgirl on Aug 15, 2006 15:40:41 GMT
The best book I have read this year is The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
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Post by Michael on Aug 16, 2006 13:35:25 GMT
I've just bought Norwegian Wood. Once I'm done with Fergal Flynn and his Roman bumming I shall start it. This means tomorrow on the way to work. Be warned.
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Post by FeelsLikeKellyCrabtree on Aug 16, 2006 21:45:12 GMT
I've mentioned it before on these boards but the most LowCulture book you could ever read is Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susan. It's got it all - retro New York, drug and alcohol abuse, bitchy women, prima donnas, glitzy frocks... the lot. I urge every single one of you to read it
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Post by Nurse Dunkley on Aug 16, 2006 22:13:26 GMT
I tend to always have a few books on the go, and I'll read a bit of one every month or so. Currently I'm part way through both Cannery Row and Sharon Osbourne's autobiography (I'm not *that* ashamed about it either). Both are quite good, but still a bit of a hassle.
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Post by Michael on Aug 17, 2006 9:01:41 GMT
I've mentioned it before on these boards but the most LowCulture book you could ever read is Valley of the Dolls by Jaqueline Susan. It's got it all - retro New York, drug and alcohol abuse, bitchy women, prima donnas, glitzy frocks... the lot. I urge every single one of you to read it Oh god, yes. I read this a few years back. It's wonderful. Wholeheartedly agree.
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Post by [james] on Aug 17, 2006 10:02:37 GMT
I'm re-reading Valley of the Dolls right now. It's really trashy but maintains an air of seriousness to it which I like. I'd also like to speak in that 50s America style.
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meee
Slabface
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Post by meee on Aug 17, 2006 11:04:41 GMT
"Norwegian Wood" will naturally lead you on to the rest of Murakami's output (the short stories aren't great, but "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" is fab.) Then you will need to buy EVERYTHING by David Mitchell, and finally the greatest undiscovered English novelist of this generation - Glen Duncan, for whom you may need a strong stomach and good attention span, but who writes utterly sublimely.
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